The Billionaire's Silent Wife (Ryan and Eve) novel Chapter 133

Chapter 133 – The Cost of Choosing 2

Ryan took a step forward, his voice lowering but growing firmer.

“Being married to Eve taught me the difference between a woman and a wife,” Ryan said. “Luan is a

woman. Eve is a wife.”

Kimberly stiffened. “That’s insulting.”

To who? Ryan asked. “To Luan? She’ll be fine. She’ll find a man who wants what she offers. But it was

never going to be me.”

He gestured toward the stairs, where Eve had disappeared earlier.

“Eve is loyal,” he continued. “She is steady. She protects what she loves without destroying others. She

builds. She doesn’t poison.”

Kimberly scoffed. “You’re romanticising her.”

Tve seen her at her worst,” Ryan replied. “She still never stooped as low as framing someone for a crime.”

Kimberly’s face flushed. “I said I’m paying for that.”

“And I’m reminding you why,” he said.

He looked at his sister directly.

“Can’t you just be happy for me?” he asked quietly. “Can’t you see that I’m a happy man?”

Kimberly didn’t answer.

Her eyes searched his face, as if looking for cracks in his conviction. Finding none, she shifted

uncomfortably.

“You’re happy,” she echoed. “With everything going on? With Mum and Dad? With the company on fire?”

Tm happy with my wife,” Ryan said simply. “With the child we’re expecting. With the home we’re building.

The rest… is noise I’m learning to mute.”

She shook her head slowly. “You’re not the same.”

“I hope not,” he replied. “The old me protected everyone but the one person who actually needed it.”

He watched her for a moment, then sighed.

“Stop getting involved in our parents’ affairs,” he said quietly.

Her head snapped up. “What do you mean?”

1 mean exactly that,” Ryan said. “Stop carrying battles that aren’t yours. Stop volunteering as a shield for people who will gladly let you take the bullet.”

Kimberly’s brows knitted. “You’re talking about Mum.”

Chapter 133 The Cost of Choosing 2

“I’m talking about both of them,” Ryan said. “It took a lot for our mother to confess that she was the one who put you up to the theft.”

Kimberly’s eyes widened in shock. “She… she told you that?”

“She denied it at first,” Ryan added. “Completely. She swore you acted alone. That you were greedy. That you got carried away.”

Kimberly shook her head slowly. “No… no, she wouldn’t,”

“She did,” Ryan said. “Adamantly. Tearfully. Convincingly. If I didn’t already suspect her, I might have believed her.”

Kimberly’s hand flew to her chest. “She blamed me?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Until she had no choice but to admit the truth.”

“How did you get her to confess?” Kimberly whispered.

“I told her the police would dig,” Ryan said. “That they would look into transaction histories. Phone

records. Messages. And that if they found so much as one instruction from her, it wouldn’t be just

community service on the table.”

Kimberly’s face drained of colour. “She… she panicked.”

“She cracked,” Ryan corrected. “And she broke. And she confessed.”

Kimberly swallowed, voice trembling. “So she really said it? That she told me to do it?”

“She admitted she put you up to it,” Ryan said. “That she told you it was fine. That it was a small amount..

That nobody would get hurt.”

Kimberly’s face flushed with fury. “I can’t believe her.”

“You’d better start,” Ryan said quietly.

“I’ve been scrubbing public toilets,” Kimberly burst out, voice rising. “Sweeping streets. Wearing those hideous jumpsuits. Humiliated every day because of this.”

Ryan said nothing.

“And do you know what makes it worse?” Kimberly went on, her voice shaking with rage and shame.” Everything I told her to ask you for, she refused. She said you’d give us a hard time. That since they don’t

like Eve anyway, we should just take the money and frame her.”

Ryan’s jaw clenched. “Say that again.”

Kimberly’s eyes glossed over. “She said the money would end up with her father anyway,” she continued, her voice cracking. “So why not let Eve go to jail over it? That it would teach Steven a lesson.”

Ryan’s hands curled into fists at his sides.

“She said it was… poetic,” Kimberly choked. “That he ruined their peace, so they’d ruin his.”

Chapter 117 The Cost of Choosing 2

Ryan closed his eyes briefly, forcing himself not to explode.

“And you agreed,” he said quietly.

Kimberly hugged herself. “Back then, I was so angry it sounded like a good idea. Mum made it sound so

logical. She said, ‘Why should our family suffer when that man is still walking free?””

“So you decided to make his daughter suffer instead,” Ryan said. “A woman who had nothing to do with what happened between them.”

“I feel stupid now,” Kimberly whispered. “Completely stupid.”

“Good,” Ryan replied. “Stupidity can be cured. Malice is harder.”

She let out a sharp breath, wiping her face angrily. “I only came because you and your wife wanted an apology. I came to apologise to you for deceiving you. For letting you think Eve stole that money.”

Ryan’s face remained unreadable. “And Eve?”

Kimberly’s jaw tightened. “I can’t.”

“You can’t apologise to the woman you nearly sent to prison?” Ryan asked.

“I can’t accept her,” Kimberly shot back. “I can’t like her. I can’t pretend I’m happy she’s in our lives. So apologising to her would be… fake.”

“So be fake,” Ryan said. “You’ve had years of practice.”

She glared at him. “That’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking,” he replied. “You’ve been pretending this whole time. Pretending you care about what’s right when it only bothers you if it hurts you.”

Kimberly looked away. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand perfectly,” Ryan said. “Mum weaponised your loyalty. And rather than admit you were wrong, you’d rather hang onto your resentment because it feels safer than admitting you were used.”

She clenched her jaw. “You’re making me out to be a monster.”

“No,” he said. “I’m making you out to be an adult. Adults are responsible for their choices. You had a

choice.”

“I was angry,” she shouted. “You chose Eve over us. Over your family. You kept defending her. You made us

feel like strangers in our own home!”

“I chose my wife,” Ryan corrected. “It’s what a husband is supposed to do.”

She shook her head vehemently. “It wasn’t always like this. We used to be close. We used to be on the same side. Then she walks in and suddenly,”

“Suddenly I stopped being your shield,” he cut in. “Suddenly you had to face the consequences of what you did instead of me covering for you. Suddenly you couldn’t hide behind ‘big brother’ every time you messed

Chapter 103 The Cost of Choosing 2

up.”

Kimberly’s eyes filled again. “I miss how things used to be.”

“I don’t,” Ryan said quietly. “Because ‘how things used to be’ nearly destroyed Eve.”

Silence settled between them, heavy and suffocating.

Kimberly broke it first, voice small. “So what now? You want me to crawl at her feet? Beg her for forgiveness I don’t feel?”

“I want you to look in the mirror,” Ryan said. “And tell yourself the truth. That’s between you and your conscience. Not between you and me. Not between you and Eve.”

She sniffed, lifting her chin stubbornly. “I came. I said my part. If she doesn’t want my apology, that’s on

her.”

“You didn’t apologise to her,” Ryan reminded her. “You walked into my house and insulted her pregnancy

the first chance you got.”

Kimberly’s shoulders stiffened. “I was hurt.”

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